Jagtiani, Memta Ramchand;
(2023)
#StateOfMind: The relationship between social media use,
gender, and family life, with mental health and well-being.
Longitudinal evidence from young people in the UK and South Korea.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Background: Social media use has complex associations with mental health and well-being, particularly among children, adolescents and young adults. I analysed how gender and family factors may modify associations between social media use (SMU)/phone-based interpersonal communication (PIC), self-esteem and depression over time among 10-21-year-olds in the UK and 14-18-year-olds in South Korea. Methods: I used two longitudinal datasets, the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) and the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) to examine whether self-esteem (UKHLS and KYCPS) and depression (KCYPS) changed over time with SMU/PIC, using linear mixed-effects modelling. A key aspect of my work investigated whether gender and family factors such as parent-child relationship quality (UKHLS) and parenting styles (KCYPS) confound or modify these associations. Results: Using the UKHLS, female non-users had higher baseline self-esteem than light users (β = 0.34; 95% CI: [0.03, 0.64]) but moderate (β = -0.21; 95% CI: [-0.47, 0.04]) and heavy users (β = -0.30; 95% CI: [-0.62, 0.02]) had lower baseline self-esteem than light users. This association was absent in males. Family structure moderated the association between the duration of social networking site use and self-esteem at baseline in females (p=0.022). Using the KCYPS, gender did not moderate the associations between computer SMU/PIC, self-esteem and depression (p>0.05). Higher frequency of computer SMU was associated with lower self-esteem (β = -0.48; 95% CI: [-0.71, -0.25]) and higher log-transformed depression (Model 3: β = 0.02; 95% CI: [0.01, 0.04]) at baseline. Higher frequency of PIC was associated with higher self-esteem at baseline (β = 0.38 95% CI: [0.09, 0.66]). Positive parenting moderated the associations between computer SMU/PIC and self-esteem at baseline (p=0.045 and p=0.018, respectively). Conclusions: The relationships between SMU/PIC, self-esteem and depression may vary according to sociodemographic factors. A nuanced understanding of social media usage patterns could inform policies and interventions, which should consider gender-, family- and country-specific variations.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | #StateOfMind: The relationship between social media use, gender, and family life, with mental health and well-being. Longitudinal evidence from young people in the UK and South Korea |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | CC BY-NC: Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10179259 |
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